On 2010-07-09 11:36:19 +0100, Jake said:

On Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:53:59 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

On Fri, 9 Jul 2010 01:44:44 +0100, Stan The Man wrote:

snipped

What I find on the web is a consultation period in 2007 which was
aimed at making the legislation less of a mess, I can't quickly find
what the outcome of that consultation was and if the legislation was
changed as a result.

I have kept the following posting by someone else in an earlier thread
which may answer your unasked question. Apologies for not crediting
the original poster as I didn't keep the message headers.

Jake

BEGIN QUOTE:
As of April we, in England and Wales at least, have new legislation
called the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 - supposedly to bring
up
to date the archaic rules which in the 2006 drought allowed you to
hose
down your patio but not your family's veg plot.

In theory, the new legislation is more flexible and gives the water
companies a wide range of options but not an infinite list of hosepipe
uses. Each company when threatened by drought can choose one or more
of the following prohibitions:

(a) watering a garden using a hosepipe;
(b) cleaning a private motor-vehicle using a hosepipe;
(c) watering plants on domestic or other non-commercial premises using
a hosepipe;
(d) cleaning a private leisure boat using a hosepipe;
(e) filling or maintaining a domestic swimming or paddling pool;
(f) drawing water, using a hosepipe, for domestic recreational use;
(g) filling or maintaining a domestic pond using a hosepipe;
(h) filling or maintaining an ornamental fountain;
(i) cleaning walls, or windows, of domestic premises using a hosepipe;
(j) cleaning paths or patios using a hosepipe;
(k) cleaning other artificial outdoor surfaces using a hosepipe.

No other hose uses can be banned, hence filling the hen house watering
trough with a hose is allowed even during a hosepipe ban. Equally,
using a hosepipe to deliver water to an outdoor shower which is used
for personal hygiene can't be banned during a hosepipe ban - so we may
see an increase in the number of outdoor showers positioned close to
the hanging baskets or growbags.

Interestingly, a water company need not ban a specified use of water
entirely. It may now limit the scope of a ban by, for example,
excluding specified groups of customers (eg the elderly and infirm)
and
apparatus (eg drip irrigation systems) and restricting the use of
water
at specified times only (eg during daylight hours).

But will they? The water companies loved the old-style hosepipe bans
because they were easy to monitor and grabbed big headlines which
helped in the propaganda war. United Utilities certainly won't be
using
any of its discretionary powers next week when it introduces a blanket
hosepipe ban (although it has had plenty of time to consider imposing
less draconian restrictions initially).

Perhaps the better managed, more customer-centric water companies will
exercise their discretionary powers. Perhaps too those companies with
a
growing, soon-to-be-100% base of metered customers will think twice
before cutting out all hosepipe uses and thereby hurting their
revenue.

But I fear we may have to wait a long time to see the first
discretionary hosepipe restrictions.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2010...en_4#pt2-l1g36

:END QUOTE

Although this new law was passed in April it isn't yet in force because
it hasn't been enshrined in the water industry regulations. Discussions
are ongoing between the Environment Agency, water industry and other
interested parties to update the regulations but the earliest this
could happen is October, according to my sources. Until then, we and
the water companies are still bound by the old law which bans only two
uses of a mains-fed hose, ie for watering private gardens and washing
private cars. Any other use can't currently be banned.